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The Times Advocate, 2008-07-30, Page 22 Times—Advocate Wednesday, July 30, 2008 Record turnout Continued from front page friend next year. Case thanked all those who donated to his ride to help him meet his fundraising goal. There are four other MS Bike Tours in Ontario — Ottawa to Kemptville (Aug. 11-12); Brampton to Waterloo (Aug. 18-19); Niagara (Aug. 26); and Toronto (Sept. 9). There are 22 MS Bike Tours across Canada this year. 1 I th year — Grand Bend's Bob Case participated in last weekend's Rona MS Bike Tour for the eleventh time. He has raised $7,800 so far this year, with dona- tions still coming in. (photo/Scott Nixon) REGIONAL WRAP UP Lawyer named commissioner GODERICH — Goderich lawyer Norm Pickell has been named acting Integrity Commissioner for Nunavut, says the Goderich Signal -Star. The appointment was effective July 3 and as a part-time position Pickell will be able to continue with his law practice in Huron County. Pickell will travel to Nunavut a few times a year to conduct the affairs of the commissioner's office. Senior of the Year GODERICH— A Goderich resident named Senior of the Year has no intention of slowing down, says the Goderich Signal -Star. June Pyette received the award from the town of Goderich for her efforts in the community which includes being current president of Goderich Legion Branch 109 and the Mackay Centre for Seniors. Pyette has also organized events over the past 20 years such as dining out and bus trips for seniors. Pyette said the award is a welcome nod toward her activities but the real reward for her is the time itself. Bridge repairs MORRIS-TURNBERRY — Repairs to the Blind Line bridge will go ahead despite objections from some ratepayers, says the Blyth Citizen. At a July 8 meeting, Mayor Dorothy Kelly told council she received a complaint about the plans to repair the bridge instead of building a new one. The lowest tender received for repairs to the bridge is $106,869 but council was told it could expect to spend at least $1 million to build a new bridge. Council hopes for decision soon Continued from front page On the sewage side of the bill, there will be a quarterly charge of $20 and a consumption charge of 57 cents per square metre of water. In Stephen, the average annual water/wastewater bill will jump from an average current bill of $764 to $811. The quarterly base water charge will increase from the current $44 to $60, and a $5 quar- terly charge for the pipeline will be added. Like in Exeter, the water rate will jump from the current 57 cents per cubic metre of water to $1.53, increasing to $1.76 in 2009. Council hopes to make a decision on the new rates soon. Since the proposed new rates have been made public there have been many concerns raised by resi- dents in Exeter and Stephen. Most vocal have been apartment dwellers who fear increased rent due to the fact the municipality is proposing to charge connection fees to each apartment within a building instead of simply charging one connection per building. Staff, consultants and councillors have said charging connection fees for each unit is an effort to make the payment system as equitable as possible. Council now has two additional options to consider. Economist Andrew Grunda of Watson and Associates said Monday he can come up with figures that would see residents charged a base charge based on occupancy levels. For example if there is an average of three people in a house and two people in apartments, the fixed charge for the apartments would be two-thirds that of a home. Another proposal is for the fixed charge to be based on the size of the water service a property has. While an apartment building requires a larger service and would be charged more than a single house, the fees an apartment build- ing faces would be spread out over the number of units in the building. A third option, one Grunda does- n't recommend, is charging resi- dents on a consumption rate. Grunda said revenues would be at risk under such a system. Grunda is waiting for direction from council whether or not to investigate these options further. Council has a regularly scheduled meeting set for next Tuesday and will meet beforehand to discuss the issue. Chief administrative officer Roy Hardy, referring to potential rent increases faced by those in apart- ment buildings, noted that there are limitations set out by the Residential Tenancies Act that set out how much a landlord can increase rent. The cap for 2009 is 1.8 per cent. Regulations under the "Landlord and Tenant Board" state that when a landlord faces "extra- ordinary" expenses, an application can be made to add an extra three per cent increase in addition to the 1.8 per cent for three years. As a result Hardy said, the maximum increase a renter would face would be 4.8 per cent, meaning the owner of the property would cover the rest of the costs. Monday's meeting also gave oper- ations manager Don Giberson the chance to respond to a number of concerns and questions from the public that have been discussed since the new rates were proposed. Regarding a belief expressed by some that Exeter's water system was fine under the well system, Giberson said there is much docu- mented history on the wells detail- ing bacteriological and high nitrate issues. "The wells weren't problem -free . .. there were lots of problems," he said, adding E. coli has been found in the raw water from the wells. He said the Walkerton tragedy "changed everything" in terms of government legislation and munici- palities are now under threat of millions of dollars in fines, includ- ing personal fines and imprison- ment for not complying with safety regulations on their water systems. He said discussions by the previ- ous council to go forward with a new Lake Huron water pipeline as opposed to upgrading the well sys- tem for $7 million were done in public meetings and with public involvement. He noted there were Ministry of the Environment orders made on the Huron Park system in 2003 which saw the operator at the time, the Ontario Clean Water Agency, fined. While to Giberson's knowl- edge there has never been a Ministry order made on the Exeter system, there have been a number of non-compliant issues. "The Ministry is all over us," he said. Responding to a statement he read by someone claiming Exeter would have the highest water rates in Canada and maybe the world, Giberson said that's not even close to the truth. He cited examples in eastern Ontario that see water rates as high as $2.60 per cubic metre, plus sewage bills of 124 per cent of the water charge. New Central Huron rates are similar to South Huron's proposed rates, Giberson said. Denmark and Germany have average rates of $2.25 per cubic metre. "Ours look like a walk in the park" compared to some others, Giberson said. He added while Exeter will bene- fit most from the new pipeline, Stephen will benefit with a pres- sure problem being solved in Dashwood, while capacity will be freed up for the Huron Park sys- tem. "There's a lot of benefit in Stephen," Giberson said. Addressing some of the concerns raised by apartment dwellers, Giberson said the municipality is showing no discrimination against renters by proposing the new rates and charging apartments their share is "fair and equitable." He said by charging only one connec- tion fee per apartment building, houses in Exeter have been subsi- dizing apartments. Staff has analyzed each apart- ment in Exeter and Giberson said on average, apartments use about half of what a house uses, although there are examples of apartments using more water than a home. He explained apartment buildings get other benefits such as fire protec- tion, which costs more for the municipality for an apartment building than it does for homes. Mayor Ken Oke said he was proud to vote in favour of the pipeline during the former council's term. He said the municipality was down to two good wells out of five and paying $7 million to upgrade the well system would have only been "a down payment," as other costs, such as sourcewater protec- tion, would have followed. He said upgrading the wells probably would have only added five to 10 years to their lives, while the new pipeline looks to the future. And South Huron continues to search for further grants for the project. Canada and Ontario signed a $6.2 billion "Building Canada" infrastructure agreement last week. The municipality still has to wait and see if it will be determined eligible for $50 million announced by the province last week for the Huron Elgin London Project, of which South Huron is a part. The municipality will take its case to Ottawa in August at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference to meet with Minister of Energy and Infrastructure George Smitherman. Hardy said he isn't sure how long it will take before the municipality learns if it will receive additional grant money. South Huron previ- ously received a $4 3 million grant, but Oke has noted that grant was less than other municipalities have received for similar projects. Board superintendent to move on By Stew Slater SPECIAL TO THE TIMES -ADVOCATE SEAFORTH — The Avon Maitland District School Board will lose a superintendent with a wealth of experience and respect in the field of special educa- tion. Marie Parsons of Gowanstown, a lifelong educator who attended school in Huron County and then rose through the teaching and administrative ranks, will begin a new job Aug. 18 with the Toronto-based Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). As chief assessment officer, Parsons will assume the "number two" role at the EQAO, an arms -length gov- ernment agency that administers and assesses the results from provincially -standardized tests in Grades 3, 6, 9 and 10. Her position takes the form of a "sec- ondment" from the board, meaning she hasn't official- ly resigned as a superintendent. She has been an employee of the Huron and Avon Maitland boards for 36 years, eventually coming to the administrative offices in 1996 and being named a superintendent in 2001. Parsons expects to spend weekends in this area and pledges to continue her service as president with the local Children's Aid Society. Body found Saturday Continued from front page rough with waves estimated to be between three and five feet high. Albrecht began having trouble in the rough water and the wind and waves swept him farther away from shore. Albrecht's two friends and others on the beach attempted to assist him but their efforts were unsuc- cessful. Ongoing patrols of the beach had been conducted since July 23, including using OPP All Terrain Vehicles, an OPP helicopter and OPP Underwater Search and Recovery divers.